Alan Butkovitz wins 2nd term as Phila Controller

Philadelphians will continue to call Democrat Alan Butkovitz their City Controller for four more years. On Tuesday Butkovitz handily beat Republican challenger Al Schmidt. Early this morning with 94% of the precincts reporting, Butkovitz had 71% of the vote to his Schmidt’s 28%.

Philadelphians will continue to call Democrat Alan Butkovitz their City Controller for four more years. On Tuesday Butkovitz handily beat Republican challenger Al Schmidt. Early this morning with 94% of the precincts reporting, Butkovitz had 71% of the vote to his Schmidt’s 28%.

WHYY caught up with him at his victory party last night in Northeast Philadelphia. He says, the recession has more people paying attention to how the city spends its money.

Butkovitz: The reason I ran for Controller is that I thought it was a key office in terms of identifying the things that make the city work for the people or not.  What happens in a financial crisis is that everybody sees that and the question of money becomes very important when the city doesn’t have any money or when people don’t have any money.  It also gives you the opportunity to push for reform and change during periods of crisis.

With city budget problems regularly making the news, political observers encouraged voters to pay special attention to the City Controller’s race. The office is responsible for auditing the financial operations of the City as well as the school district.